Our French connection.

I promised my brother Ken to write up the story.
Here it is in brief. Mums fathers family name was Reed.
Note also see the post dated March 13 called "The Gene Trail"

James Reed (Our G,G, Grandfather) came to NZ as a crew member of the whaling vessel Cheviot. His history in NZ is reasonably well documented as he ran the whaling station at Cloudy Bay and later settled with his family on Raoul Island (then called Sunday Is). In later years he and his family ran a ferry service from Northcote (North shore) to Auckland. He died at his Stokes Point home aged 84.
The French connection is also well documented. OR is it? The question is about his family name and his place of birth. France or England? His parents are almost without a doubt French.
Here are the two different stories I have found so far.

1. From the Menary family history research (they are relatives) and I have to say it looks well researched. An extract reads "Children of Count Maurice-Phillipe, de Montboisier, Beaufort are: James Reed, born 25th Nov 1792, Hamstead, London, England."
2. From a publication titled "TED" The life and times of Edward Louis Reed (Our grandfathers brother) an extract reads " James Reed was born in France in the year of 1792 his family name was Le Notre. His parents were thought to have been captured by revolutionaries in Paris. They managed to send their son, with a servant, to a small town in the south of France called Grimaud. He lived with a family there called Grimeau who were perfume makers." It goes on to say how he made it to England and on to NZ as a teenager on a whaling boat. The name James Reed was said to have been given to him by the captain of the ship on that voyage and he also tutored James in English.

So there you go. I have lots more detail on file but at this point that's the French connection as I know it.